Tuesday, March 19, 2013

The Ayrault government has lost its first casualty to scandal. Jérôme Cahuzac, minister of the budget, has been placed under investigation for suspicion of tax fraud and money laundering and has been replaced by Bernard Cazenave, who was minister delegate for European affairs.

Cahuzac was brought down by a bizarre recording of a phone call that was mysteriously connected via his business manager's office to a third party, who recorded it and eventually transmitted the recording to one of Cahuzac's political rivals. The latter put it in the hands of Mediapart, which published a transcript. A technical analysis confirmed that the voice on the tape was Cahuzac's, who nevertheless denies that he has committed any crime.

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I have been a student and observer of French politics since 1968. In that time I've translated more than 130 books from the French, including Tocqueville's Democracy in America and Thomas Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century. I chair the seminar for visiting scholars at Harvard's Center for European Studies and am a member of the editorial board of French Politics, Culture, and Society and of The Tocqueville Review/La revue Tocqueville. You can read some of my writing on French politics and history here and a short bio here. From time to time I will include posts by other students of France and French politics (accessible via the index link "guest"). My hope is that this site will become a gathering place for all who are interested in discussing and analyzing political life in France. You can keep track of posts on Twitter by following "artgoldhammer".